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+ - Another internet addict is beaten in China

Submitted by krou
krou writes "The BBC is reporting that a teenage boy is in a serious condition with chest and kidney problems after being beaten several times by the principle and fellow students at a camp for internet addicts. Pu Liang, 14, was sent to the camp by his mother, who believed he was spending too much time on-line playing video games. They promised to cure him for 5,000 yuan. The principal, Wu Yongjing, has since been arrested, and the camp closed down. He admitted that the children were sometimes beaten, saying that "Physical punishment is an effective way to educate children — as long as it can be controlled." Tao Ran, from Beijing's Military General Hospital, noted that rules covering these camps were chaotic, and most camps were run by unqualified people, while China's Ministry of Health said that no scheme exists to register or oversee these camps."
The Military

+ - SPAM: Marines want lots of robots they can throw

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes "The US Marine Corp has a request — build and rapidly deploy more 10lb or under robots its personnel can throw into dangerous situations that can quickly gather information without endangering Marines. The throwable robot is part of a family of robots that would range from the 10lb version, to one that would act as a central controlling device and weigh close to 300lbs. Marine commanders are demanding ever lighter robots so that troops don't have to offload critical equipment from their rucksacks to accommodate them. [spam URL stripped]"
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Idle

+ - Robots Are The Chefs In This Japanese Restaurant->

Submitted by
Singularity Hub
Singularity Hub writes "A Ramen restaurant has just opened in Nagoya, Japan that uses robots instead of humans as its chefs. It may not seem that amazing at first, but once you see the video it is hard not to be blown away. The robotic chefs work their gastronomic magic in a kitchen placed front and center in the middle of the restaurant, giving customers a front row seat on the action."
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Privacy

+ - A dark day for internet trolls 1

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes "In August 2008, a user of Blogger.com, Google's blogging service, created "Skanks in NYC," a site that assailed Liskula Cohen, 37, a Canadian-born onetime cover girl who has appeared in Vogue and other fashion magazines. The blog featured photos of Cohen captioned with terms including "psychotic," "ho," and "skank." On Monday, New York Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden ruled that Google must hand over to Cohen any identifying information it possesses about the blog's creator. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/18/new.york.model.blog.lawsuit/index.html"
Power

+ - Chevy Volt gets 230 mpg city epa rating->

Submitted by
xgr3gx
xgr3gx writes "GM CEO Fritz Henderson announced today that the Chevrolet Volt extended range electric car has been given an official EPA rating of more than 230 MPG city and a combined city/highway average fuel economy of more than 100 MPG.
This ends the mystery of the TV ads showing the number 230 on a plain green background.
Read more at the gm-volt site:
http://gm-volt.com/2009/08/11/chevy-volt-gets-230-mpg-city-epa-rating/"
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XBox (Games)

+ - In the Underworld, the game plays you!->

Submitted by
togelius
togelius writes "Whenever you play a game of Tomb Raider: Underworld, heaps of data about your playing style is collected at Eidos' servers. Researchers at the Center for Computer Games Research have now mined this data to find out who you are! Using self-organizing neural networks, they classified players as either Veterans, Solvers, Pacifists or Runners. It turns out people play the game for very different reasons and focus on different parts of the game, but almost everyone falls into one of these categories. These neural networks can now instantly find out which of these you belong to based on just seeing you play. In the near future, such networks will be used to adapt games like Tomb Raider while they are played (e.g. by removing or adding puzzles and enemies), so you get the game you want."
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The Military

+ - SPAM: 15-ton bomb would become the Father Of All Bombs

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes "Now this is one big bomb. Published reports today say the Pentagon is rattling swords in the direction of North Korea and Iran by speeding the development a 20-foot, 30,000lb bomb known as Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) meant to annihilate underground bunkers and other hardened (re: long range missile or underground nuke development) sites. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency which has overseen the development of this monster since 2007, says it is designed to be carried aboard B-2 and B-52 bombers and deployed at high altitudes where it would strike the ground at speeds well beyond 2X the speed of sound to penetrate the below ground target. [spam URL stripped]"
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United States

+ - US Senate Considering Ban On Texting While Driving->

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes "Following recent reports on the dangers of drivers being preoccupied by their cell phones, the U.S. Senate is now considering legislation to ban text messaging while driving. This could even be a step toward a total of ban of using cell phones while driving.

Here are the big reports that recently came to light:

- Texting while driving increases crash risk 23-fold ( http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10296992-94.html ) based on a Virginia University study

- A Car and Driver study showed that texting-and-driving is far more dangerous than drinking-and-driving ( http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q2/texting_while_driving_how_dangerous_is_it_-feature )

There are already 14 U.S. states (plus Washington, D.C.) that ban drivers from text messaging.

The Washington Post reports ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/29/AR2009072902039.html ) that the ban in D.C. has made a significant impact: "A 2006 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed a significant decline in phone use by drivers in the District because of the ban. It fell 50 percent initially and remained at that level a year later."

ZDNet : http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=22132"
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Power

+ - Artificial Glass Leaves Sweat to Produce Energy->

Submitted by
Mike
Mike writes "UC Berkeley researcher Michel Maharbiz has worked with other scientists to develop an alternative energy system based on transpiration, a natural process where trees pull water from roots to tops, with liquid eventually evaporating off of the leaves. Taking inspiration from this process, the team has created synthetic glass leaves that are essentially energy scavengers, deriving power from the evaporation-driven flow of water. Eventually the leaves could be implemented into whole artificial trees, providing a complementary technology to solar power."
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